True Intelligence
"He may have been the most brilliant student to have ever walked these halls."- Albus Dumbledore
Everyone believed Tom Riddle Jr. to be intelligent. He was brilliant. He was a genius.
But was he?
They say that curiosity is one of the main signs of intelligence. When did Tom Riddle ever show an ounce of curiosity? He couldn't imagine that anyone could be smarter than he was. When he found the Room where Things are Hidden, he believed himself to be so clever despite the fact that other people had been hiding things in there for centuries. To find a room that been found by students and teachers (cough, cough-Trelawny and her sherry bottles-cough, cough) had found for centuries isn't very original. He thought that he was the only one who'd discovered the entrance to the shrieking shack from the Whomping Willow even though Harry and Hermione discovered it on accident when trying to save Ron and the Marauders went beyond discovering the entrance. They went there every month; three of them as animagai. Tom seemed to be under the impression that he'd discovered more of the castle than anyone else. He found himself superior to others because he found the Chamber of Secrets. While this is pretty amazing, Harry Potter (who was rarely considered clever) found it too. While there is no way to know if this is correct, he did forget that he didn't know the most about it. The four founders, who'd built Hogwarts, would have known the most about Hogwarts, not some student who'd attended the school hundreds of years later. Even he'd explored it the most, he couldn't imagine that there was something that he didn't know. The more you know, the more you know that you don't know very much.
They say that the only difference between intelligence and unintelligence is anger and fear. When a smart person was confronted with something that he/she didn't understand, it angered him/her until he/she figured it out. When a stupid person was confronted with something he/she didn't understand, he/she would try to forget about it so that they wouldn't have to deal with it. Voldemort didn't understand love. Because it was foreign to him, he feared it. He tried as hard as he could to avoid it.
Everyone believed Tom Riddle Jr. to be intelligent. He was brilliant. He was a genius.
But was he?